Facebook’s standalone news app could launch sometime next week

Facebook will reportedly launch a standalone news app next week, according to the Financial Times. Dubbed Notify, the service is said to alert users to stories from professional media outlets, including early partners Vogue, Washington Post, and CBS. Facebook is also courting CNN, Comedy Central, and Billboard, the FT said, citing people familiar with Facebook’s plans. With Notify, the social network appears to be targeting rival Twitter, which recently launched content aggregation tool Moments, as well as Apple’s just-released News service. A Facebook spokeswoman declined to comment. The move comes shortly after Facebook rolled out Instant Articles on iOS, which loads articles from media partners directly on Facebook rather than redirecting them to outside sites, cutting down on load time. Initial collaborators include NBC News, The Atlantic, BuzzFeed, The Guardian, BBC News, Slate, Cosmopolitan, The Huffington Post, and Vox Media.